Children's education at risk in Lebanon due to economic crisis
More than 700,000 kids are at risk of never returning to a classroom due to rising poverty, while thousands have dropped out of school to engage in child labor or get married.
BEIRUT — On iconic Hamra Street in Beirut, many children wander unattended. Some of them dig in garbage containers. Others try to sell flowers or clean the shoes of passersby. Most of the girls sit on their mothers' laps while holding their younger siblings. They keep their hands outstretched, follow pedestrians ask for bills.
“These kids should be at school, but they are in the streets working because they are just fighting to survive," said Ettie Higgins, UNICEF’s representative in Lebanon. The 2021-22 academic year is seeing the loss of 30,000 students who had to drop out of school.
